In known air conditioning disconnect (ACDC) systems, a disconnect assembly has a pullout assembly with conductive jaws separable from “conductive connectors” affixed in a base assembly to conductive lugs. The conductive connectors are bent at a 90 degree angle to receive the respective conductive jaws. The pull out assembly includes a full jaw connected to a handle. The base assembly includes a lug that is secured to a base of the base assembly and a corresponding conductive connector. In the conductive position the conductive connectors of the base assembly are mated to a pair of the full jaws of the pullout assembly, allowing current to flow from one lug, which receives line current, across the pair of full jaws, to another lug, which provides the line current to the air conditioning load. The full jaw includes two pieces of copper that are bent to form a jaw-like arrangement. Copper is expensive. In addition, in existing designs, numerous parts are required to form the disconnect assembly. The lug is spaced away from the 90 degree connectors that receive the jaws of the pullout assembly. Rivets or screws are required to fasten the two jaw halves together, and for every jaw, a corresponding 90 degree connector is required. In short, prior-art systems use too many parts and are expensive because they overuse the amount of copper that is needed. They also present a number of joints, and joints are undesirable because they produce heat due to electrical current crowding at the transitions and reduce the delivery efficiency of the current.
What is needed, therefore, among other things, is a disconnect assembly that requires as few parts as possible while reducing the overall amount of copper used compared to existing designs. The present disclosure fulfills these and other needs.